Texas woman learns lung cancer is more common in younger, non smokers
Every time Cherith Satterfield took a deep breath, she would hear a whistle. The 39-year-old thought she was having seasonal allergies, or maybe it was related to a thyroid problem she had been working on with a doctor.
Her lungs sounded normal to her doctor, but she was sent to get an X-ray in May just in case.
The scan showed a 6-centimeter by 6.9-centimeter tumor in the left upper lobe of her lung. It was not far from her heart and the structures leading to the heart.
Satterfield, who lives in Cameron, about 70 miles northeast of Austin, had never been a smoker and had been in relatively good health before this. Lung cancer was nowhere on her radar.
“We’re definitely seeing more and more, not only lung cancer, but really all cancers in younger patients than we have historically,” said Dr. Matthew Gaudet, a surgeon with Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons in Central Texas who treated Satterfield.
While lung cancer is most common in men ages 75 and older who were smokers, about 10% of all cases are in people younger than 55, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. Patients ages 20 to 46 years with non-small cell lung cancer are more likely to be female, to be nonsmokers and have a more advanced stage of the disease when diagnosed.
Gaudet believes some of the increased in cases in younger patients might be because of more advanced screening being done, more genetic testing and more awareness catching cancers early, but also changes in our environment and exposure to second-hand smoke fueling cancers.
While Satterfield never smoked, she did grow up in a house with a mother who smoked, and she wonders if the second-hand smoke might have been a factor. About 10% to 20% of people diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked or smoked less than 100 cigarettes in their life, according to the CDC.
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The screening recommendations for lung cancer wouldn’t apply to Satterfield or people like her. The U.S. Preventative Task Force recommends a low-dose CT scan of the chest for anyone who is between ages 50 and 80 and has a 20-pack year history, which means they smoked a pack a day for 20 years or two packs a day for 10 years. It’s recommended for current smokers or people who have quit within the past 15 years.
For people who don’t fit that criteria, they are waiting for symptoms to emerge, like the breathing difficulty and the wheezing Satterfield had.
Symptoms of lung cancer usually don’t show up until the cancer is advanced, Gaudet said. In Satterfield’s case, the tumor was so large it was compressing the airway, and she could hear a wheeze.
Gaudet encourages people to get evaluated when there is something that is abnormal to you. That includes a cough, especially a productive cough with streaks of blood, shortness of breath, chest pain, pressure or tightness. “It can be a lot of vague symptoms,” Gaudet said, but “having a low threshold to ask for someone just to check it out and fully vet it and work it through, is in short, the right move.”
Read more:‘We’re catching more’: How a chance CT scan found an Austin man’s lung cancer
Because of its size and the makeup of the tumor, Satterfield’s cancer needed to be treated immediately, but because of its size, she had to start with chemotherapy to shrink it before it could be removed by taking out the affected lobe. She started chemotherapy in June and then had a her upper left lung lobe removed on Oct. 22.
“I still feel winded,” Satterfield said, but “I’m doing things I haven’t done in years.” That includes pressure washing the whole house recently. Once healed, she will have about 25% less lung capacity than before.
She will follow up with immunotherapy next year to make sure nothing was missed, and she’ll continue to do scans to look for any signs of cancer throughout her body.
Right now, Satterfield said she is “thankful to everybody who’s already stepped in and took care of me.”
She’ll spend her 40th birthday in January thankful as well as celebrating her life. She’s heard there might be a party planned.
“Yeah, I’ve got a lot to be celebrating,” she said.
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